Here’s this week’s “Artsweek”, HELEN MUSA’s comprehensive guide to what’s on where around Canberra and beyond. 

US singer-songwriter Kevin Welch has charted five singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and released eight studio albums in a career spanning four decades. He’s playing at the Royal Hotel, Queanbeyan on October 29.

GUNNING Arts Festival will see the town open its doors to art enthusiasts, culture seekers, and families for a country celebration of creativity and culture the weekend of October 28 and 29.

HACKETT’S 60th Birthday Party is being celebrated with the “Squares” art show at St Margaret’s & Holy Cross Church, October 27-29, and a big party on October 29.

MOTHER Tongue Multilingual Poetry’s final open mic for 2023 will be at Smith’s Alternative, Civic, October 30.

JAZIDA Productions’ next edition of the burlesque variety show “Decadence and Debauchery Canberra” returns to Verity Lane with a line-up of interstate and local acts. October 28.

MUSICACT’S Music Awards (the MAMAs) return on December 5 to celebrate the ACT music scene. Nominations are now open. Inquiries lucy@musicact.com.au

Stage

• QUEENSLAND Ballet is bringing Liam Scarlett’s version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to Canberra Theatre, October 25-28.
• THE Wharf Revue’s “Pride in Prejudice” satirical revue is now at The Playhouse, until November 5.
• “SPEAKING In Tongues”, on which the film “Lantana” was based, is at ACT Hub, Kingston, October 27.
• CABARET team Eliane Morel and Daryl Wallis are performing “Carmen the Cabaret” at  Smith’s Alternative, October 28.
• WORLD War I soldier-settler, farmer and playwright, Millicent Armstrong’s four-act drama, “Fire”, will be given a public first reading at Gunning Court House, October 29.
• THE 14^th annual “Come Alive” Festival of Museum Theatre featuring the work of  students from secondary schools and colleges is at  Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, October 30-November 3.

Film

• THE National Film and Sound Archive has Vinay Shukla’s film “While We Watched” and discussion panel, on October 26.
• THE Canberra premiere of  “The Healing”, a new feature documentary about a revolutionary welfare program that brings together traumatised ex-racehorses and traumatised military veterans, followed by a Q&A with the cast/crew, is at Palace Electric Cinemas, November 1.

Concerts

• GENEVIEVE Lacey, composer of the National Museum’s permanent sound installation “Breathing Space”, performs on recorder with classical accordionist James Crabb. NMA, October 27.
• AMBER Joy Poulton performs “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, the hits & stories of Loretta Lynn. The Q, Queanbeyan, October 28.
• BRITISH composer Will Todd’s “Mass in Blue” will be performed by the Llewellyn Choir, joined by a jazz combo and soprano soloist Sonia Anfiloff, Yarralumla Uniting Church, October 28.
• “BAROCTOPUS”, works for violin, recorder, bassoon and continuo, Wesley Music Centre, October 29.
• THE final CSO Chamber Ensemble matinee for the year will  featuring the orchestra’s principal woodwind players. Albert Hall, October 29.
• DAVID Pereira’s “70 Not Out!” presents Rachel Scott’s “Bach in the Dark Cellissimo” at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Barton, October 29.
• SELBY & Friends ends its season of chamber music with works for piano trio. NGA James Fairfax Theatre, October 31.
• VIRTUOSIC piano akkordeon player, Anton Wurzer, performs his own compositions at Wesley Music Centre’s lunchtime concert, Forrest, November 1.
• GEOFF’S Jazz at Smiths has Flora Carbo and the Theo Carbo Quartet at Smith’s Alternative, Civic, November 1.

Exhibitions

• “LIFE Needs to Move,” the solo show of a rising star in abstract art, Laura Prochowski, opens at Tyger Gallery in Yass on October 26.
• THE 2023 Annual Members’ Exhibition and “Spoon Theory” open at Craft + Design Canberra, Level 1, North Building, Civic Square, October 26.
• “THE Pintupi Way” curated by Christopher Hodges, brings together works from three generations of Western Desert artists. ANU Drill Hall Gallery, opens October 26.
• M16 Artspace is opening “Testamur 5” by Canberra Art Workshop; “The eddy and the flow” by photographer Heidi Smith; “Semi-Rural” by Lucy Stackpool; and in Chutespace, “Biblia,” by Liz Perry. From October 26.
• “INTERREGNUM – Afterimage” by Robyn Veneer Sweeney, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manuka, October 26-November 5.
• “FOR The Record” features playful artworks inspired by the humble LP by artists who aim to re-use, re-work or re-write the record. Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Lakeside Parkes, one day only, October 28.
• “ON the Move” is an interactive exhibition that explores transport in all its forms, created by the Museums of History NSW in collaboration with illustrator James Gulliver Hancock. Canberra Museum and Gallery, October 28-January 28.
• CERAMICIST Sarit Cohen is opening her studio on the corner of Fulton and Catchpole Street Macquarie, October 28 and 29.
• ANCA Artists Group Show opens at 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson on October 28.